How to prepare for a hurricane in Belize

For anyone who – like us – didn’t grow up with a hurricane: It’s basically the sum of a lot of water and a lot of wind going in a big circle. Wind speeds up to 52 km/h are called tropical depressions, up to 102 km/h are called a tropical storm and faster than 102 km/h are called a hurricane. Tropical depressions are numbered while tropical storms and hurricanes are considered “named” storms.

Hurricanes cause damage primarily by flooding and blowing stuff away. 90% of deaths by hurricane are caused by drowning. Coconuts flying around are a problem as well as mudslides. And the odd crocodile or snake flushed into your ground floor may be an annoyance as well.

What happens during a hurricane in Belize?

The information infrastructure of a country that is as experienced in hurricanes as Belize is very good. Depending on their house (wood vs. stone) and their personal situation, people will stay at home up until a hurricane category 2 or 3. Lots of houses are built on stilts and most have thick iron bars in front of the windows – doubling as coconut and theft protection.

Most companies have their own hurricane plan in place, some even have dedicated disaster managers. If a company makes the call, operations are shut down and employees are sent home and encouraged to evacuate.

Evacuation usually means packing up your stuff and heading west into the mountains. There, people stay with relatives, at hotels or at public shelters like High Schools. When a town is evacuated, military and police take over to keep looting down to an acceptable level.

1-3 days after the hurricane has passed, people return and begin to rebuild. NGOs like the Red Cross provide aide and food.

In the past 115 years since weather records in Belize were formally maintained, Belize has seen the following storms make landfall:

20 hurricanes — average of 1 hurricane every 5.75 years
(by contrast an average of about 1.6 hurricanes a year hit the U.S. during roughly the same period, but the U.S. coast line is many times larger than that of Belize)
31 tropical storms – average of 1 tropical storm every 3.75 years
51 total hurricanes and tropical storms – average of 1 hurricane/storm every 2.25 years

Of the 20 hurricanes:
9 or 45% were in September (1 every 12.75 Septembers)
8 or 40% were in October (1 every 14.4 Octobers)
2 or 10% were in July
1 or 5% was in November
0 or 0% in June and August

Of the 51 total hurricanes and tropical storms:
7 or 14% were in June
4 or 8% were in July
4 or 8% were in August
19 or 37% were in September
14 or 27% were in October
3 or 6% were in November

Odds of hurricane:
Odds of a hurricane in Belize in a given year: 17%
Odds of a hurricane in Florida in a given year: 68%
Odds of a hurricane on the U.S. Gulf Coast in a given year: 67%
Odds of a hurricane on the U.S. East Coast in a given year: 47%

This is a list of what we keep at home at all times. It’s based on having to stay at home for 10 days – even though we expect to be stranded for 3-5 day tops. 100% security buffer on top!

60l of water (3l per person per day)

3 kg pasta

3 kg rice

20 cans of veggies / sauces

10 cans of fruit

10 cans of meat

20 granola bars

Oatmeal, corn flakes

sugar

coffee

vitamin pills

peanut butter

bread

milk

crackers / chips

Equipment:

These are the non edible things we keep at home at any time:

2 flashlights, 2 headlamps

candles

lighter and matches

battery operated radio

batteries

first aid kit with our medication

insect repellant

ziplock-bags

plastic plates, knifes, forks, spoons

Evacuation bag:

Should we have to bail, this what we take with us. We are planning for a 3 days trip – which is also very conservatively calculated. In three days, you can probably walk across this country. Realistically, we need about 3h to the evacuation spots without trouble, 6h if its rough.

hiking boots

hiking clothes for 3 days

underwear

soap, toothbrush, tooth paste

raincoat

flip-flops

moskito net

sleeping bag (we use egyptian silk inlets)

computer, cameras, kindle

6l of water per person (bottles or camelbak)

canned food that can be eaten cold

granola bars

flashlights and head lights

candles

lighter and matches

radio

batteries

first aid kit with our meds

money

travel documents

cell phones

chargers

electric converters

list of contacts, hotels and emergency phone numbers

insect repellant

pocket knife, leatherman tool

2x plastic plates, spoons

List of evacuation destinations:

We looked at the 4 most popular evacuation spots for Belizeans. We prioritized them so that we would know where to go even if we were separated and can’t communicate. We picked affordable hotels with internet access and have the list with phone numbers always handy – this way we don’t need to research when we’re running from the storm.

Decision rules:

There are two main reasons why we wrote down our decision rules. First, it’s far better to think about scenarios and how to react when you’re relaxed and don’t have a storm blasting in the door. Secondly, if we do get separated, we will know what the other does without communicating. Based on the rules. This isn’t likely, but could still easily happen (Holger is traveling on business, forgets his cell charger and can’t call).

We compiled the rules in the form of a mindmap / decision tree. Best case is obviously to talk on the phone.

Our hurricane plan

What are your thoughts? What did we forget? What would you take? How would you decide?

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After what some may consider careers in consulting and logistics, we quit our jobs, sold our stuff and left Germany to be full-time travelers and development volunteers. This blog is about our travels, our work as volunteers and our alternative life strategies - always looking to make an impact and to find the meaning in what we do or put some into it if we can't find any.

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Sinnvollereise.de – Tripwithameaning.com

This website is about Kerstin & Holger Heinze - we're two yuppies from Frankfurt Germany who were so sick and tired of our corporate careers that we sold everything we owned to fund a year abroad.
We are working as volunteers, first skilled in our fields of expertise and then unskilled for grass roots charities.
At the same time, we're on our honey moon doing what we love: Travel, meet new people, go new places.
Right now we are in Belize, Central America working for the Red Cross and the Belize Tourism Industry Association.